University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


- 


REV.  DR.  M'VICKAR'S  ADDRESS 

TO   THE 

CALIFORNIA  REGIMENT. 


CAMP  POLK,  GOVERNOR'S  ISLAND, 

7th  Reg't  N.  Y.  U.  S.  Volunteers, 

Sept.  llth,  1846. 
REV.  DR.  McViCKAR : 

Dear.  Sir— It  affords  us  great  pleasure  to  state  that  we  have 
been  appointed  a  Committee,  in  behalf  of  the  officers  of  our  Regi 
ment,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  to  you,  in  our  names,  their 
extreme  gratification  in  witnessing  the  interest  which  you  have 
expressed  in  the  California  Expedition. 

We  beg  you,  therefore,  to  accept  our  sincere  thanks  for  your 
great  kindness,  and  request  that  you  will,  if  in  your  power,  transmit 
to  the  Committee  a  copy  of  your  beautiful  address,  upon  the  occa 
sion  of  the  presentation  of  the  Bibles,  by  the  New-York  Bible 
Society,  in  order  that  both  officers  and  men  may,  when  far  from 
friends  and  homes,  still  have  the  pleasure  of  referring  to  it,  as  a 
token  of  the  kind  and  generous  spirit  of  our  countrymen. 
With  sincere  regard, 

We  are  your  ob't  servants, 

Capt.  S.  G.  STEELE, 
Capt.  FRANCIS  J.  LIPPITT, 
Lieut.  J.  C.  BONNYCASTLE. 
Rev.  Dr.  McViCKAR, 

Chaplain,  &fc. 


GOVERNOR'S  ISLAND, 
Fort  Columbus,  12th  Sept.  1846.    " 

GENTLEMEN:  Permit  me,  through  you  as  their  Committee,  to 
return  my  sincere  thanks  to  the  Officers  of  the  California  Regiment, 
for  the  kind  and  nattering  estimate  they  have  been  pleased  to  make 
of  my  willingness  of  service  towards  their  command  during  their 
encampment  on  the  Island.  That  service,  my  official  station  made 
in  some  degree  my  duty — the  kindness  with  which  it  was  received, 
turned  duty  into  pleasure  ;  and  I  can  only  pray  that  our  short  Pas 
toral  intercourse  may  not  have  been  without  its  mutual  blessing,  to 
be  remembered  with  gratitude  when  oceans  shall  divide  us. 

With  your  request  of  a  copy  of  my  address  on  occasion  of  dis 
tributing  Bibles,  &c.,  to  the  Regiment,  I  comply  with  unfeigned 
diffidence,  as  feeling  how  little  worthy  it  was  of  that  deeply 
interesting  occasion.  I  do  it,  however,  with  the  thankful  prayer 
and  hope  that  the  faithful  words  of  a  Christian  friend  and  minister 
may  not  be  without  their  weight  and  value,  when  recalled  in  the 
far  distant  home  to  which  you  are  destined. 

I  remain,  Gentlemen,  with  best  wishes  and  sincerest  prayers, 
Your  friend  and  servant, 

JOHN  McViCKAR, 
Chaplain  of  Fort  Columbus. 
To  Capt.  S.  G.  STEELE,  } 

Capt.  FRANCIS  J.  LIPPITT,  >  Committee,  Sfc. 
Lieut.  J.  C.  BONNYCASTLE,  } 


REV.  DE.  M'VICKAR'S  ADDRESS. 


UNDER  favor  of  your  Colonel's  permission  I  address  my 
self  to  you — Officers,  non-Commissioned  and  Privates  of 
the  California  Regiment — and  never  before,  I  confess,  have 
I  addressed  myself  to  my  fellow  man  with  so  deep  a  sense 
of  my  inability  to  say  that  which  befits  the  occasion  and 
the  audience.  It  is  not  your  numbers  that  daunt  me — I 
have  addressed  assemblies  as  numerous — nor  is  it  your 
military  array,  and  that  I  a  man  of  peace  am  called  to 
counsel  soldiers — with  that  too  my  official  duty  has  made 
me  familiar — nor  yet  that  I  speak  to  men  presently  bound 
for  the  battle  field  ;  even  with  such  solemn  partings,  recent 
events  have  made  me  alas  but  too  conversant ;  but  never 
before  have  I  been  called  to  address  an  organized  body  of 
armed  citizens  who  go  forth  alike  to  conquer  and  to  colo 
nize,  and  who  bid  adieu  to  their  country  and  their  homes, 
with  the  professed  understanding  that  they  return  not,  but 
are  to  find  alike  their  dwellings  and  their  graves  in  a  far 
distant  land.  This  thought,  I  confess,  overcomes  me,  and 
when  all  the  deep  and  varied  responsibilities  involved  in 
such  an  expedition  arise  before  me,  I  feel  bewildered  as 
well  as  overpowered,  and  can  only  throw  myself  as  a  man 
and  brother  on  your  own  sensibilities  on  this  occasion  to 
give  any  weight  to  the  few  feeble  parting  words  I  have 
now  to  utter. 

But  it  is  to  the  ulterior  objects  of  your  expedition  alone 
I  shall  speak.  As  a  military  armament  I  look  not  at  it  and 
speak  not  of  it.  The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  that  are 
in  other  and  higher  hands — nor  is  it  a  subject  that  befits  my 
peaceful  mission  to  you  this  day.  From  the  dark  fields  of 


4 

bloody  strife,  if  such  await  you  (which  God  forefend)  I  turn 
gladly  to  the  brighter  scenes  which  greet  the  prophetic  eye 
when  peace  has  converted  your  "  swords  into  plough  shares 
and  your  spears  into  pruning  hooks,"  and  the  transplanted 
germ  of  American  freedom  shall  begin  to  strike  its  roots 
deep  on  the  shores  of  the  broad  Pacific.  Looked  at  in  this 
light,  what  scenes  of  duty  and  high  responsibility  arise  be 
fore  the  thoughtful  mind.  'Tis  then  that  I  see  in  your 
array  a  mission  not  of  war  but  of  peace  and  love — like 
unto  some  armed  convoy  of  high  benevolence  freighted 
with  precious  gifts — from  the  wealthy  East  unto  the  forests 
of  the  West — a  royal  donation  from  the  boisterous  Atlan 
tic  unto  her  quiet  ocean  sister.  In  your  departure  ocean 
speaks  unto  ocean  and  says,  "  Receive  at  my  hand  the  gift 
of  civ  ilization.  That  lamp  of  Science,  Law  and  Religion, 
which  I  myself  received  from  the  far  East.  I  now,  in  turn, 
hand  over  to  the  distant  West.  Freely  I  have  received — - 
freely  I  give.  Take  the  boon  and  hold  it  worthily." 

But  to  speak  without  figure,  who  but  must  see  in  this 
national  transfer  of  American  citizens  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  a  forward  step  taken  (whether  man  intend  it  or 
not)  in  that  great  Providential  movement  which  from  the 
earliest  times  has  sent  the  tide  of  civilization  westward. 
Thus  looked  at,  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  constituting  the 
California  Regiment,  are  the  living  scion  cut  off  from  the 
Parent  American  Stock,  destined  to  engraft  the  Institutions 
of  the  East  on  the  wild  plants  of  the  West — you  are  our 
chosen  carriers  to  introduce  into  less  favored  lands  a 
higher  and  purer  Christian  civilization.  And  now  let  no 
man  scorn  this  as  an  ideal  picture,  for  if  your  armament 
in  its  more  peaceful  objects  will  not  bear  this  interpreta 
tion,  and  if  in  its  fulfilment  it  shall  not  reasonably  carry 
them  out,  God's  blessing,  be  well  assured,  does  not  and 
cannot  rest  upon  it,  for  such  is  his  blessed  and  unchanging 
will,  that  even  thus  shall  knowledge  and  virtue  and  fair 


.Religion  circumnavigate  the  earth,  through  men  who  go 
forth  as  you  do  bearing  in  your  hands  the  seeds  of  a  better 
civilization.  Whatever  else  your  vocation,  that  is  your  pri 
mary  one,  as  God's  children.  Nor  can  man's  neglect  or 
abuse  wholly  defeat  it — even  out  of  evil  God  still  educes 
good,  the  sword  of  conquest  is  made  to  open  His  way,  and 
the  deep  laden  barques  of  self-interest  that  rush  in,  are 
still  made  to  bear  His  gifts  to  destitute  or  savage  lands — 
peace  and  the  arts  of  life,  order  and  law,  science  and  its 
teachers,  the  Missionary  and  the  Gospel.  Such  is  ever 
the  circuit  of  God's  footsteps  on  the  earth.  Such,  there 
fore,  must  ever  be  the  tracks  of  man's  duty  in  following 
it.  Enlightened  and  Christian  man  is  ever  to  be  the 
pioneer  of  a  better  civilization. 

And  now  among  the  carriers  of  this  better  seed,  what 
race  stands  so  prominent  on  earth  as  that  of  which  we 
Americans  are  on  this  Western  Continent  the  Representa 
tives — a  race  that  in  the  tide  of  time,  since  first  called  forth 
on  the  theatre  of  the  world's  history,  has  never  yet  turned 
back,  whose  course  has  ever  been  onward  and  upward,  and 
over  whose  destined  Empire  there  would  seem  to  hang  no 
other  cloud  than  that  which  may  arise  from  their  own  pos 
sible  unworthiness,  should  they  be  found  to  turn  into  base 
gain  or  lust  of  dominion,  a  trust  of  power  committed  to 
their  hands  for  the  Civilizing  and  Christianizing  of  the 
earth.  Then  do  I  truly  believe  the  abused  talent  will  be 
taken  from  them  and  given  to  others  more  worthy,  and 
when  the  spiritual  light  is  quenched,  that  the  candlestick 
of  power  will  be  removed ;  for  what  right  have  we  to 
claim  exemption  from  that  righteous  fate  which  has  with 
drawn  the  gift  of  dominion  from  other  chosen  races,  should 
we  like  them  prove  unfaithful  to  the  mission  on  which 
we  are  sent.  Let  us  then,  as  Americans,  "  not  be  high- 
minded  but  fear  " — let  us  "  be  watchful  and  strengthen  the 
things  that  remain." 


•     6 

To  make  void  that  curse  of  unworthiness  is  a  responsibi 
lity  that  rests  in  its  due  degree  on  all  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood ; 
but  in  a  special  degree,  permit  me  to  say,  does  it  rest  on 
each  member,  high  or  low,  of  this  California  Regiment. 
Never  before  has  it,  in  my  poor  judgment,  so  rested  on  any 
equal  number  of  American  citizens,  for  never  before  have 
we  as  a  nation  thus  colonized,  and  in  the  face  of  the  civi 
lized  world  put  the  stamp  of  our  name  and  government  and 
land,  on  a  new,  distant  and  dubious  settlement.  We  have 
at  least  in  this  given  a  gage  to  the  civilized  world  which 
we  are  bound  to  redeem  on  peril  of  our  honor.  It  be 
hoves  us  all  to  remember  that  it  is  indeed  a  most  high  and 
solemn  act,  one  which  the  Christian  world  looks  at  in 
doubt  or  fear,  one,  therefore,  that  shall  hereafter  take  its 
place  m  the  world's  history.  The  living  germ  of  a  new 
State  and  a  new  Empire  is  as  on  this  day  to  be  solemnly 
planted  by  American  hands — a  living  fountain  as  on  this 
day  to  be  opened  in  the  wilderness,  whence  coming  gene 
rations  shall  drink  either  sweet  waters  or  bitter.  Which 
that  shall  be — on  you,  I  repeat  it,  mainly  depends — on 
you,  its  founders,  legislators,  citizens,  rulers — on  you  offi 
cers  and  men  of  this  California  Regiment.  It  is  a  respon 
sibility  that  so  rests  upon  you  that  you  cannot  shake  it  off. 

Shall  then  your  country  permit  you  to  depart  laden 
with  such  responsibilities,  bearing  forth  as  you  do  in  the 
face  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  her  name  and  fame,  the 
credit  of  her  Institutions,  her  moral  training  and  her  Re 
ligious  faith  without  one  parting  word  of  kindness  or  of 
caution  ?  No,  my  friends  !  Though  it  be  but  from  lips 
feeble  as  mine,  yet  as  an  anxious  mother  will  your  coun 
try  this  day  lay  her  hand  on  the  head  and  her  parting 
charge  on  the  heart  and  conscience  of  every  son  here  pre 
sent,  who  goes  forth  not  to  return.  Even  while  I  thus 
speak  do  I  see  her,  the  venerable  Genius  of  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  land,  the  common  mother  of  us  all.  I  see  her  rise 


up,  from  this  her  watery  throne  where  she  sits  embosom 
ed  amid  the  peaceful  fleets  of  an  unbounded  commerce, 
to  bid  you,  her  armed  sons,  farewell.  I  see  her  followed 
in  dim  procession  by  a  long  train  of  patriots  and  heroes 
and  Christian  men.  Men  who  not  only  here  but  in  older 
lands  have  toiled  and  fought  and  bled,  not  for  conquest  but 
for  right ;  not  for  license  but  for  law,  and  that  they  might 
build  up  for  posterity  that  which  we  here  enjoy,  a  fair 
and  (I  trust)  an  enduring  fabric  of  constitutional  freedom. 
In  that  long  line  may  I  not  say  I  recognize  conspicuous 
the  venerated  form  of  Washington,  the  Father  of  our 
country.  He  who  built  up  our  liberty  on  the  foundation 
of  virtue  and  religion,  and  has  left  imprest  on  every  Ameri 
can  heart  the  fairest  portraiture  the  world  ever  saw  of  the 
Christian  soldier — the  hero,  without  stain  and  without  re 
proach.  But  higher  yet  do  I  recognize  the  Genius  of  our 
Anglo-Saxon  land.  T  see  her  form,  I  hear  her  words,  and 
mine,  believe  me,  are  their  faithful  echo. 

"  Go  forth"  she  says,  "  my  well  armed  sons — the  sword  in 
your  hands,  but  peace  in  your  hearts  and  justice  in  your 
deeds.  Go  forth  as  Apostles  from  this  my  favored  land  to 
teach  and  to  bless  those  to  which  you  go.  Remember  that 
you  bear  a  widely  honored  name.  It  has  ever  been  a  lin 
eage  of  faith  and  virtue,  of  courage  and  gentleness,  of  peace 
of  order  and  of  religion.  Such  has  it  been  in  the  old 
world,  such  in  the  heroic  times  of  the  new.  Let  not  its 
fair  fame  be  tarnished  or  its  Institutions  defamed  by  unfil- 
ial  hands,  or  unworthy  tongues.  As  you  bear  your 
Country's  ensign  so,  remember,  do  you,  your  Country's 
honor.  Let  not  the  name  of  American  Citizen  ever  re 
ceive  a  blot  through  you.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  with 
Americans,  might  was  the  measure  of  right,  or  that  gold 
outweighed  justice,  or  that  the  soldiers'  sword  made  heavy 
the  scale  of  a  vanquished  enemy's  ransom.  Rather  let  that 
name  be  known  as  one  of  blessing  wherever  it  is  heard 


8 

even  as  that  of  a  Teacher  appointed  of  Heaven  to  instruc 
the  nations  of  the  earth — to  exhibit  to  the  world  the  living 
proof  how  Liberty  may  dwell  united  with  law,  how  indi 
vidual  freedom  may  stand  linked  together  with  Public  or 
der,  and  Christian  faith  in  the  nation  walk  hand  in  hand 
with  an  unfettered  private  conscience. 

Go  forth  then,  my  Children,  and  not  only  as  citizens  but 
as  men,  remembering  that  you  leave  at  home  those  whom 
you  will  make  to  hold  up  or  to  hang  their  heads  when  in 
future  days  your  names  and  career  are  mentioned — the  Fa 
ther,  whose  name  you  bear — the  Mother  who  nursed  you 
at  her  bosom — the  Sister  with  whom  in  early  life  you 
played  and  who  now  dashes  from  her  eye  the  parting  tear, 
in  her  blessed  confidence  that  you,  a  brother  and  a  son  can 
never  forget  those  whom  you  early  loved.  In  that  sacred 
confidence  of  Home  affection  do  I  too  trust,  that  nothing 
unworthy,  nothing  base,  will  ever  be  permitted  to  stain 
your  name  or  that  of  your  country.  I  read  it  in  your 
looks — I  see  it  in  your  eye — in  that  eye  which  even  now 
glistens  when  t  Home  '  is  mentioned  and  which,  in  a  far  dis 
tant  clime,  will  daily  turn  to  the  picture  of  '  Home,'  as 
to  a  charm  to  guard  alike  your  heart  and  life — to  fill  the 
one  with  pure  and  generous  thoughts,  the  other,  with 
virtuous  and  noble  deeds. 

And  that  you  may  perform  well  all  your  parts,  whether 
as  soldiers  or  Colonists,  as  Citizens,  or  as  private  men,  go 
forth  as  CHRISTIANS,  and  take  the  Blessed  Book  I  now  prof 
fer  to  you,  the  gift  of  your  Christian  Country  as  the  sum 
and  substance  of  her  farewell.  Take  it  as  the  best  Charter 
you  can  draft  of  your  public  liberties ;  the  surest  safe 
guard  you  can  have  of  private  virtue  and  the  only  endu 
ring  basis  on  which  your  Social  Institutions  can  grow  up. 
Believe  me. — believe  the  voice  of  history,  that  Society 
without  Religion  is  a  rope  of  sand,  and  government  without 
the  fear  of  God  is  but  tyranny  under  the  name  of  law. 


Think  not  then  lightly  of  this  gift  of  a  Bible,  even  as  hu 
man  Legislators,  for  as  no  State  can  stand  but  upon  Religion, 
so  no  Christian  State  can  stand  but  upon  the  Bible.  It  is 
its  LIFE,  and  losing  that,  even  Empires  sink  into  ruin,  they 
die  and  rot  like  things  of  earth.  Take  then  this  blessed 
book  in  your  hands,  it  contains  the  only  Religion  that  can 
stand  inquiry,  bind  it  closely  to  your  hearts,  it  teaches  the 
only  faith  that  can  bring  them  comfort,  and  be  assured  that 
the  closer  you  do  bind  it  to  your  hearts  and  lives  and  So 
cial  Institutions  the  greater  will  be  the  strength  of  your 
new  State  as  well  as  the  more  enduring  its  prosperity.  It 
will  prove  a  safe-guard  amid  the  perils  of  the  wilder 
ness,  far  beyond  what  man  can  give.  Without  its  aid  vain 
will  be  your  arms,  when  physical  strength  will  be  in 
the  governed  ;  vain  your  laws,  for  what  will  they  be  with 
out  reverence  for  the  lawgiver  ?  vain  your  freedom  without 
virtue,  to  secure  it,  and  very  vain  all  attempts  to  build  up  a 
people's  virtue  on  any  other  foundation  than  that  of  the  Re 
ligion  of  the  Bible,  on  reverence  for  that  great  unseen  Law 
giver  whose  eyes  penetrate  alike  the  wilderness  and  the  hu 
man  heart,  whose  hand  asks  not  the  aid  of  human  power, 
and  whosesecret  justice  keeps  an  account  with  man's  con 
science  whether  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  or  of  the  Atlan 
tic  sea.  To  that  inestimable  gift  I  add  another,  next  in  my 
love  and  as  I  think  (viewed  as  a  practical  embodiment 
of  Bible  teaching)  in  value,  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
that  land  which  is  the  home  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  race,  the 
home  where  our  liberties  were  cradled,  and  our  pure  Re 
ligion  nursed,  and  whence  our  national  blood  has  mainly 
flowed.  c  Go  forth  then,'  I  say  again, c  my  well  armed  Sons,' 
confiding  not  so  much  in  the  arms  you  bear,  as  in  the  God 
you  serve,  the  faith  you  profess  and  the  virtues  you  prac 
tice.  Look  up  in  trust  to  that  great  and  holy  Being  who 
hath  hitherto  guided  our  race  and  nation  as  by  a  ( pillar  of 
cloud  and  fire,'  and  who  will  lead  you,  their  Sons,  as  He 


10 

led  your  Sires,  if  you  prove  worthy  of  them,  to  peaceful 
homes,  over  a  stormy  ocean  and  through  trackless  forests. 
Only  follow  as  becomes  your  lineage  the  Anglo  Saxon 
footsteps,  take  Gods  word  for  your  guide  and  build  up  all 
your  Institutions,  in  His  faith  and  fear.  Let  the  banner  of 
Christ  be  planted,  wherever  you  plant  that  of  your 
Country,  and  wheresoever  you  place  your  foot  place  too 
God's  house  in  the  wilderness.  THIS,  even  as  a  mother's 
dying  word,  I  charge  upon  your  filial  obedience.  Build 
early  a  temple  to  God's  honor,  dedicate  it  to  a  Saviour's 
worship  and  from  the  rude  log  Church  let  daily  prayers 
ascend  from  consecrated  lips  to  bring  down  a  daily  bles 
sing  on  the  still  ruder  log  cabin." 

Such  words  fellow-citizens,  of  parting  caution  seem  I  to 
have  heard  from  the  lips  of  our  common  mother  and  as 
such  have  I,  however  feebly,  rehearsed  them  unto  you. 
God  grant  that  true  words  may  not  prove  fruitless  through 
the  feebleness  of  him  who  speaks  them.     One  thing  gives 
me  hope.     This  day  will  be  remembered  by  you  in  dis 
tant  lands  not  so  much  for  what  is  said  as  what  is  given. 
When  oceans   shall   roll   between  and  the  words  of  the 
Speaker    be    forgotten    and    the    heart    that    prompted 
them   have  long  ceased  to   beat,  still,  shall  this   volume, 
speak,  and   this  day  when  they  were  given,  be  by  you 
freshly  remembered.     It  may  be,  on  the  battle-field,  in  one 
hurried  but  true  thought  of  God  and  your  Saviour  ;  it  may 
be  on  the  bed  of  sickness,  in  the  hour  of  penitence  and 
prayer  ;    I  trust  it  will  often  be  in  the  peaceful  home  of 
the  happy  Emigrant,  when  your  eye,  my  Brother,  glan 
cing  on  this  book,  shall  bring  back  this  day  and  this  hour, 
and  this  beauteous  scene,  and  you  will  say  to  the  dear  ones 
clustering  around  you.  "Yes, I  remember  well  the  day  when 
this  blessed  volume  was  put  into  my  hands,  I  thank  God  for 
the  gift.     It  has  been  my  guide  and  counsel,  my  stay  and 
consolation  in  many  a  dark  hour  in  the  wilderness." 


n 

Such,  men  and  Brethren,  fellow-soldiers  and  fellow-cit- 
zens,  but  above  all,  FELLOW  CHRISTIANS,  such  is  the  part 
ing  farewell,  of  one  whose  prayers  will  follow  you,  where 
his  words  can  no  longer  reach  yon,  and  who  prays  now, 
that  the  God  and  Saviour,  whose  he  is,  and  whom  he 
serves,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  will  be  your  guide 
and  guard  wherever  you  are,  will  bless,  preserve  and 
keep  you,  now  and  forever.  Amen. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

To  each  non-commissioned  officer  and  soldier  of  the 
Regiment,  do  I  now  present,  in  the  name  of  the  New- 
York  Bible  Socieiy,  by  whose  liberality  it  is  furnished,  a 
copy  of  that  Sacred  Volume,  together  with  an  affection 
ate  and  fervent  prayer,  that  it  may  prove  to  each  one 
of  you,  the  words  of  Eternal  Life  .Guard  it  carefully,  read 
it  faithfully,  and  may  God's  blessing  be  with  you  in  the 
daily  perusal  of  it.  -. 

I  am  also  commisioned,  to  'present  to  each  soldier 
desiring  it,  as  a  manual  of  devotion,  both  of  public  and 
private  use,  a  copy  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  on 
the  part  of  the  Bible  and  Common  Prayer  Book  Society 
of  New- York,  the  Bishop  White  Prayer  Book  Society  of 
Philadelphia  and  several  private  contributors. 

I  am  also  enabled  to  present  to  the  Regiment,  on  the 
part  of  many  donors.*  (a  list  of  whom  is  herewith  an 
nexed,)  three  small  libraries,  apportioned  to  the  three 
ships  of  the  command,  with  a  view  to  their  re-union  in 
your  future  settlement,  as  the  foundation  of  a  Colonial 
library.  However  small  the  collection,  it  will  serve  at 
least  to  strengthen  the  ties  of  home,  and  to  remind  you,  that 

*  American  Tract  Society,  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal 
Tract  Society,  Sunday  School  Union,    D.    Apoleton    &  Co., 
Mark  W.  Newman,  Henry  M.  Onderdonk  &  Co.,  Wiley  &. 
Putnam,  Saxton  &  Miles,  Rev.  Joseph  Salkeld,Dr.  Greenhow,  of 
Washington;  Stanford  &  Swords,-  Harper  &  Brothers. 


12 

your  country  still  holds  you  in  affectionate  remembrance* 
To  Lieut.  Col.  Henry  S.  Burton  and  Major  James  JL. 
Hardy: — To  you,  Gentlemen,  as  vested  with  a  distinct 
Command  in  your  respective  vessels,  I  have  the  honor 
to  present,  on  the  part  of  the  same  Societies  a  copy  of  the 
Bible  and  Prayer  Book,  inscribed  with  your  names  and 
official  Rank,  with  a  view  to  facilitate  the  Services  of  Putn 
lie  Worship,  on  ship  board.  Receive  themj  as  a  parting 
gift,  from  a  Country  that  knows  your  worth  and  thorough 
military  training.  Receive  them,  as  the  parting  gift 
of  a  friend,  who  is  well  assured  that  you  value  them 
aright,  and  will  so  use  them  as  to  make  them  a  blessing 
to  yourselves,  and  those  under  your  Command. 

To  Col.  J.  D.  Stevenson  :— To  you,  Sir,  as  the  Colonel 
of  the  Regiment,  Leader  of  the  Expedition  and  probable 
Ruler  of  the  new  Colony,  I  have  also  the  honor  to  present  an 
engraved  Bible,  on  the  part  of  the  New  York  Bible  Society, 
and  on  the  part  of  the  N.  Y.  Bible  and  Common  Prayer 
Book  Society,  a  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  similarly  inscri 
bed,  with  your  name  and  rank.  Receive  them  in  expres 
sion  of  the  deep  sympathy  felt  by  this  Christian  land,  in 
the  religious  welfare  of  yourself  and  Command,  and  of  their 
equally  deep  conviction  that  you  will  find  in  them  the  surest 
aids  to  discipline,  as  well  as  the  wisest  guidance  to  those 
who  gcvern.  It  is  the  closing  prayer  of  one  who  yields 
to  no  man  here  present,  in  the  deep  interest  that  he  feels, 
that  this  Expedition,  shall  be  one  of  honorable  and  prosper 
ous  issue — the  prayer  of  one,  who  is  alike  your  friend  and 
servant,  it  is  his  prayer  that  your  path  of  duty  may  ever  be 
open  and  your  course  in  it  ever  blest,  as  blest  it  doubtless  will 
be,  so  long  as  guided  by  the  precepts  and  principles  these  vol 
umes  teach,  of  justice  and  piety,  of  purity  and  peace. 

On  the  part,  and  in  the  name  of  our  Common  Country, 
do  I  now,  bid  to  you,  and  those  under  your  command,  an 
affectionate  and  respectful  FAREWELL. 


